100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 89HANDLEY PAGE VICTOR
Top
Victor K.2 XM715 of 55
Squadron, Marham,- This machine
became a Falklands
and First Gulf War
veteran and is today
preserved ‘in steam’
at Bruntingthorpe.
PETE WEST
Above
On November 30,
1993 K.2 XH672
of 55 Squadron
touched down at
Shawbury ready for
transportation by
road to the nearby
RAF Museum Cosford.
This was the last ever
fl ight by a Victor.
Converted to a tanker
in 1974, XH672 had
the highest sortie
rate during the
Falklands confl ict and
fl ew 52 ‘ops’ during
the First Gulf War.
RAF MUSEUM
http://www.rafmuseum.orgLeft
The spacious fl ight
deck and exceptional
view of a 55 Squadron
K.2. KEY-DUNCAN CUBITTConversion Unit at Marham and
55 Squadron adopted the type in
July 1975, to be followed by 57
Squadron. Across the ramp, 214
Squadron disbanded in January
1977 and the last of the Mk.1
tankers were retired.
During April 1982 the bulk
of 55 and 57 Squadron’s K.2s
were shoehorned into crowded
Wideawake airfield on the Ascension
Islands as the RAF got ready to
support the Royal Navy task force
to liberate the Falkland Islands from
Argentine occupation. Page 96 has
highlighted one of the famous Black
Buck sorties – the longest bombing
raids ever undertaken by the RAF.
The Vulcan aircrew involved were
the first to lay praise on the Victor
tanker teams. Putting a single
Vulcan over Port Stanley involved
pinpoint timing from eleven leap-
frogging Victor K.2s as they topped
up the delta-winged bomber on
their way into the South Atlantic.
Another four of the tankers were
needed as the ‘reception committee’
to bring the Vulcan back to
Wideawake.
Victors were also tasked with very
long-range reconnaissance and
signals intelligence sorties as well as
tanking other RAF assets, includingaerodynamics and even greater
performance. At Wittering, 139
Squadron became the first to use
B.2s from February 1962, adopting
the Blue Steel stand-off missile the
following year. Defence cuts reduced
the planned fleet to 34 and they
were put through an engine upgrade
programme in 1964.
The highly capable SR.2 strategic
reconnaissance conversion started
operations in May 1965 with
543 Squadron at Wyton. The
globetrotters at 543 carried out
their demanding tasks until the unit
disbanded in May 1974.
Handley Page went into
liquidation on August 8, 1969,
overstretched by the ambitious
and problematic Jetstream twin-
turboprop programme. A rescue
plan was put into effect but on
February 27, 1970 one of the most
famous names in the British aviation
threw in the towel.
Parked all over the Handley Page
airfield at Radlett were B.2s awaiting
conversion to K.2s tankers. These
were ferried to Woodford where
Hawker Siddeley took over the
project and the first conversion
began flight testing in March 1972.
On May 7, 1974 K.2 XL233
was delivered to 232 Operational
HANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTORHANDLEY PAGE VICTOR 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
“...the Mach meter had reached the magic ‘1’ with a
true airspeed of about 675mph. Allam said that it:
‘behaved in its customary stable manner.’”
TopTop
Victor K.2 XM715 of 55 Victor K.2 XM715 of 55 Victor K.2 XM715 of 55 Victor K.2 XM715 of 55 Victor K.2 XM715 of 55Hawker Siddeley Nimrods. Back
at Marham, the remainder of the
fleet were working hard helping
maintain the air bridge to and from
Wideawake while continuing to
meet RAF commitments in Europe.
War was again on the agenda when
Iraq invaded Kuwait, and coalition
forces began to gather in the Middle
East prior to the brief and brutal
Operation ‘Desert Storm’ – in RAF
pa rlance Operation ‘Granby’ – of
January and February 1991. The
first four K.2s – 55 Squadron then
the only frontline operator of the
type – deployed to Muharraq,
Bahrain, on December 14, 1990. By
the time the shooting started – on
the night of January 16 – there were
eight Victors at readiness.
Like the Buccaneers and Tornados- pages 90 and 92 – most of the
Victors gained American-style nose-
art and names: XH671 Slinky Sue,
XH672 Maid Marion, XL164 Saucy
Sal, XL231 Lusty Lindy, XM715
Teasin’ Tina and XM717 Lucky Lou - XL161 and XL190 declined the
attention of the artists.
The Victors conducted 299
combat tanker sorties in 870 flying
hours with ‘clients’ including US
Navy fighters as well as RAF types.
On October 15, 1993 a ceremony
at Marham marked the disbanding
of 55 Squadron, in-flight refuelling
becoming the domain of converted
airliners, Lockheed Tristars and
Vickers VC-10s.